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World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. and Ultimate Fighting Championship previously revealed their merger plans which will happen this year. UFC, which is owned by Endeavor Group Holdings, said last month that it has signed a deal for a tie-up with WWE.
This means that the WWE and UFC are set to combine their companies and form just one business group. With this, it was reported by CNBC that the companies have already chosen a name for their joint company, and it will now be called TKO Group Holdings.
The publication said that a representative of the Endeavor Group confirmed the new business name on Tuesday, May 16. Last month, WWE and UFC mentioned that their joint business would trade on the New York Stock Exchange using the TKO ticker.
It was explained that the name was formed to represent the fighting term that everyone in combat sports is familiar with. The TKO in WWE and UFC’s new company name means “technical knockout.” With their merger agreement, both the American wrestling promotion company and Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor are hoping to form a sports entertainment business that can be valued at over $20 billion.
Endeavor’s chief executive officer, Ari Emanuel, was also selected to be TKO Group’s chief while WWE’s shareholder and former CEO, Vince McMahon, will hold the executive chairman role in the newly-formed company. Moreover, Endeavor will own a slightly higher stake in TKO with its 51% share, and WWE will own the rest, which is 49%.
The merger of WWE and UFC is expected to be completed within the second half of 2023. But while they are combining their businesses, it was mentioned that the two will retain their respective names as part of the TKO Group.
“We have a track record of success with media rights. WWE has similar scale to UFC. In the universe of assets at this scale, the opportunity is rare and finite,” Endeavor’s chief said last month. Adding in another interview with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that the merger is “going to be UFC 2.0.”
Photo by: David Seto from Brooksville, USA/Wikimedia Commons(CC BY-SA 3.0)
